J. D. Salinger
“I hope to hell that when I do die somebody has the sense to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetary.…
Features & Reviews
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Defending Memoir, or, The Problem with Taylor
Journalism is hard, underpaid work, and attacking memoir is low hanging fruit, especially when it's so tied to the celebrity memoir and the platform writer, the worst impulses of the publishing industry.
Czechoslovakian Expose
The first three parts of this book cover series were titled “Slovakian Expose,” but this was mainly because I found these images at online Slovak bookstores. (See the last part.)…
Crimson Colored Raunchiness and Terror
Taste of Cherry is a beautiful, carefully crafted, and sensual display of poetry; the verbal, pyrotechnical, unabashed bravery of the poems is their most significant quality.
The Rumpus Original (Supersized) Combo with Kara Candito
"I think most contemporary poets occupy a fairly humble place in the universe, that we have few Byronic illusions about our fame. The act of reading my poems to an audience will always be a bit scary."
“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”
“His writings have changed the consciousness of a generation, and helped open new paths to understanding and its crucial meaning for our lives.” Noam Chomsky on Howard Zinn, who died…
Stirring Coffee with a Feather
Margo Berdeshevsky’s work straddles the line between fiction and poetry. Her characters grieve, dream, punish themselves, and try to find harmony between who they are and who they might still…
NBCC Finalists Announced
The National Book Critics Circle has announced the finalists for its 2009 book awards. Among those named are D. A. Powell (whose Rumpus Original Combo can be read here) for…
Itsi Dreamt That He Went to the Forest
These illustrations are by Isaachar Ryback for In the Forest, a 1922 children’s book by Kvitko. Ryback was a painter born in the Ukraine in 1897. He settled in Berlin…
“When I’m Thirsty and When I’m Not”
“Charles Baudelaire (1821 – 1867): Booze, Opium; Edgar Allan Poe (1809 – 1849): Alcohol, Opiates; Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 – 1861): Opium; Stephen King (1947 – present): Booze, Cocaine, Prescription…
Bloomsbury Whitewashes Again
Not long ago Bloomsbury published author Justine Larbalestier’s novel Liar, which revolves around an African-American protagonist, with a white girl’s face on the cover. The choice was made against Larbalestier’s wishes…
A Cockerel Device
These wood engravings all come from books published by The Golden Cockerel Press, a private press operating in England between 1920 and 1961. I was scanning from a 1975 American…